In addition to enabling voice-to-voice communication, modern mobile communication devices enable users to send and receive data as well as video. Many mobile communication devices also enable users to access the Internet through dedicated web interfaces, that allow the users to visit websites, including those that search for and provide contact information for businesses and individuals. As with traditional communication devices, mobile phone users frequently dial an information or directory service provider, such as the *411 service in the United States. With these services, the caller usually speaks directly with an operator to locate the contact information in an electronic database based on information provided by the caller and then either verbally relays that contact information to the caller or activates an automated feature that verbally provides the contact information to the caller.
Recently, a voice-based, automated search technology that provides directory assistance and other benefits for mobile-phone users has been developed. To access the service users dial a dedicated number and provide general information regarding the desired contact information to an automated operator. The automated operator, using speech recognition and search tools, searches an electronic database for businesses that match, or otherwise relate to, the general information provided by the caller. In its simplest implementation, the caller is prompted for a business name and location, and the automated system searches the database for business matching those criteria. In a more advanced implementation, the caller can provide more general information, such as business type and general location, such an intersection or postal code. The service will then search the database for businesses matching those criteria and then verbally read off a list of the businesses that fit the criteria and then allow the caller to verbally select a business for which to receive the contact information or precise location.
In another proposed system, a caller verbally provides general information, i.e., terms for a search query, and the results of the search are routed to the caller's mobile device and displayed on the display screen of device. Thus, in addition to basic contact information, such as business name, address, and telephone number, the caller could also be automatically provided with a map showing the business' location. Such a service therefore allows a caller to perform a search for a pizza parlor, for example, based on general location, receive the telephone number for the parlor, order the pizza, and map to the parlor for pickup of the pizza by simply calling the automated service. For the system to provide this level of functionality, the mobile device must include software that interfaces with the service.
Another service has been proposed that allows a mobile device user to forward a text message to an automated system identifying terms for a search query, and wherein the results of that search are provided in a reply text message. With this proposed system, the user inputs search terms into a dedicated search engine accessed through the mobile device or provides the aforementioned text message. The results of the search are then supplied in a text message identifying various attributes for the search results, such as business name, contact information, and location.
The contact information provided to the caller, either displayed on the screen of the device or in a separate text message, is unsorted or minimally sorted. That is, if the search results are sorted, they are sorted alphabetically, which may be of little importance for the caller. For example, if a caller searches for contact information in the category of “pizza restaurants” in Rogers Park, Chicago, Ill. or postal code 66060, the results of the search query will be in the form of either an unsorted list or an alphabetical list identifying the pizza restaurants generally located at or near the specified location. Some present services, especially GPS enabled services, sort the contact information generated in response to a query according to the location of corresponding businesses with respect to the location of the caller. Thus, for the aforementioned example, the system sorts the results of the search query according to the proximity of pizza restaurants to the location.
While proximity to a given location may be the most important for some callers, for other callers, other factors may be equally or more important. For these callers, the results must be searched on the mobile device by the caller. If the number of businesses listed is voluminous, such searching can be particularly time-consuming and cumbersome. By limiting the presentation of the search results to either a randomized order or an alphabetical order, it is difficult for a caller to rank the results based on other factors. In other words, the functionality of these proposed systems is limited because the presentation of the search results is tailored to the organization of the data itself rather than the preferences of the caller.